Sajid Javid defends ‘no jab, no job’ policy for NHS workers despite warnings of mass staff exodus

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Sajid Javid today defended the Government’s ‘perfectly reasonable’ compulsory Covid jab policy for all frontline NHS staff, despite official estimates showing it may only convince one in six unvaccinated workers to come forward. 

The Health Secretary’s defense came as Government projections showed the ‘no jab no job’ policy would only convince 20,000 of the 120,000 unvaccinated NHS staff to get the Covid vaccine and push 70,000 to leave sector.

Health unions have warned that the policy threatens to do more harm than good by exacerbating crippling staff shortages in the NHS which currently has 100,000 vacancies. 

But the Health Secretary told Radio 4 this morning it was NHS staff’s ‘duty’ to get the jab in order to protect patients.

‘This is all about patient safety, we know vaccines work, we know that they reduce the risk of you being infected, so it reduces the spread of an infection,’ he said. 

‘People whether they are in care homes or a hospital bed, they are particularly vulnerable to this virus, it could be fatal.

‘It is our duty to everything we can to protect them.’ 

In another interview this morning Mr Javid went as far as to say if the Government hadn’t taken this step many people would have questioned why:  ‘I think you’d have me on the show saying “why didn’t you do anything about it?”,’ he said.

He also told Sky News that the Government’s demand that NHS workers get the Covid jab was ‘perfectly reasonable’.

‘I’m not pretending, nobody is saying that you could have a 100% method of protecting them, but what you can do is reduce the chances of them becoming infected, and I think it is perfectly reasonable to say to everyone that works in health and care, please take this vaccine – some 93% have had at least one shot and that’s fantastic to see. There’s still around 100,000 we estimate in the NHS that have not,’ he said. 

Speaking to LBC Radio Mr Javid added: : ‘Let’s think about the situation where that nurse stayed in that role or remained unvaccinated and was perhaps infected by Covid asymptomatically, not even knowing, going around ward to ward, patient to patient, perhaps it’s your grandma, your uncle, your grand-dad, and infecting them. I think you’d have me on the show saying “why didn’t you do anything about it?”.’ 

Mr Javid also described the Government projection that 70,000 staff would leave the NHS as a result of the ‘no jab no job’ as a ‘cautious’ estimate, adding that Government will be working with NHS to support and provide staff with knowledge to get the vaccine rather than focus on replacing them.

The situation mirrors that in care homes with Government has already made Covid vaccination compulsory for care sector staff, with the deadline for them to get fully vaccinated ending at 12am tonight.  

Mr Javid also said he refused to accept warnings from Independent Care Care Group chair Mike Padgham that the policy will result in patient deaths as care homes struggle to get enough staff this winter with homes forced to close.

‘Whilst this will be challenging for the sector…it is something that is manageable,’ he said.

Also this morning, Danny Mortimer, chief executive of NHS Employers and deputy chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said a ‘majority of NHS leaders do understand and do support the mandation of the Covid vaccine’.

He added that the NHS was ‘grateful for that bit of extra time’ before the April deadline for frontline workers to be double jabbed, as the service enters ‘absolutely our busiest period’ with winter approaching.

He told Times Radio: ‘Clearly, what we need to focus on between now and April is talking to people, engaging with them.’

‘If there are misunderstandings or misapprehensions about the vaccine, reassuring people, educating them and that’s the job of the next four or five months.’

He added: ‘Any situation where we lose people just puts extra strain on services and I think as the Government acknowledged in its own impact assessment risks impacting on service delivery.’

‘We only have so many people and that may impact on what we can do, but as I’ve said, one step at a time. The issue now is to focus on engaging with people and trying to persuade them and explain to them the benefits to them and their families, as well as to their colleagues and patients, of having the vaccine.’

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has also come out in broad support of the Government’s vaccine mandate but have also described it as ‘blunt instrument’. 

JCVI member Dr Maggie Wearmouth,  told LBC Radio: ‘I’m broadly in favour of this move’ 

‘I think legislation is a blunt instrument, but as frontline health and social care workers our goal and our main responsibility should be the health and protection of the very vulnerable, frail and elderly patients in our care.’

The white paper into the impact of the Government’s ‘no jab no job’ policy for the NHS, set to be implemented on 1 April, was published last night.   

The document estimates that just 22,000 of the 125,000 currently unvaccinated staff — including medics, cleaners, porters and receptionists — will get their Covid jabs by that deadline.

It also shows that ministers expect 73,000 not to come forward for the vaccines and by default lose their job.  The remaining 30,000 are medically exempt. 

Trade union GMB warned the ‘bulldozing’ policy will only worsen the ‘crushing’ staffing crisis. The health service already had around 100,000 vacancies before Covid struck, including a shortfall of 10,000 doctors and 35,000 nurses. 

Unvaccinated staff have already threatened to quit on the back of the announcement, with one trainee nurse telling MailOnline it was a ‘kick in the teeth’ after working tirelessly on wards through the pandemic. 

Ryan Balment, 38, was set to graduate as a nurse in two years, but says he will now become a dog trainer. 

Mr Balment, from Devon, told MailOnline: ‘I would rather leave the health service than be told to have something that I don’t know is 100 per cent effective.’

He added: ‘I am quite disappointed because I feel that I have worked throughout the pandemic and a lot of people I know have worked throughout the pandemic.

‘To suddenly be told that unless you have this vaccine we are not going to keep you employed, you are no longer of value, it is a bit of a kick in the teeth.’ Other unvaccinated health staff, including nurses and doctors have also told MailOnline they will also quit the health service rather than be forced to get the jab.  

The move brings the NHS into line with care homes, where employees have until Thursday to get two doses of the Covid vaccine or be made redundant.    

Chris Hopson, the chief executive of NHS Providers which represents hospital trusts, said making vaccines compulsory in the NHS may result in the health service losing ‘significant numbers of staff’.

He said: ‘The problem for both social care and the NHS is we run these systems incredibly hot on very, very fine margins. Both of us have got around 90 to 100,000 vacancies.

‘We are completely reliant on our staff to… work extra shifts in order to do the work that needs to be done.

‘So losing significant numbers of staff, particularly given the pressure that both of the systems are under at the moment, is a real, real problem.

‘And that’s why we’re very clear with the Government they need to help us manage this risk.’

But Mr Hopson added that the rule could help to boost uptake of the Covid vaccine, and encourage hospitals to open conversations with vaccine hesitant employees.

He said: ‘If you look at other nations that have done this, there is no doubt that if you do it carefully, at the point when you announce the fact that you are going to have mandatory vaccinations in the sector, it does provide quite a useful opportunity to then have those kind of further conversations. 

‘So if we get it right, actually, it could be quite a useful spur in some senses to drive the take-up up, but the bit that we just need to be careful of, as I said, is avoiding scapegoating people.’ 

England currently stands alone on its compulsory Covid vaccine policy with Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland having no plans to force their NHS staff to get the jab.